France and Germany will contest tomorrow’s Under 15 Girls Teams final at the European Youth Championships in Gondomar after overcoming Sweden and Switzerland respectively in the semifinals. Sweden and Switzerland will both leave Portugal with bronze medals.
Fifth seeds France delivered a flawless team performance to defeat fourth seeds Sweden 3-0, although the opening singles proved to be a hard-fought battle.
Albane ROCHUT gave France the lead by defeating Siri BENJEGARD in five games. After dropping the opening game heavily, ROCHUT responded impressively to win the next two before BENJEGARD forced a decider. The French player remained composed to seal the fifth game 11-7.
Eva LAM then produced a dominant display against Nike LUNDQVIST, conceding just 10 points in a commanding straight-games victory to put France within one point of the final.
ROCHUT and LAM completed the sweep in the doubles, defeating BENJEGARD and Alicia ENBOM in straight games to secure France’s place in the gold medal match.
ROCHUT was delighted with both her own contribution and the collective performance.
“I’m very happy with both my own performance and the performance of the whole team because this was a true team effort. I’m very grateful that I could contribute with a 3-0 win.
I had played against Siri about two months ago. I also won that match 3-0, but it was much closer than this one. This time I felt I was in better control, so I’m really pleased with how I played.
She is a very good player, and we knew it would be a special match because our previous encounters had always been very competitive. Starting the team match with a victory was important for my confidence and gave us a good start. Now we’re looking forward to the final and we’ll do our best again.”
Third seeds Germany recovered from an early setback to defeat Switzerland 3-1 and book the second place in the final.
Enya HU put Switzerland ahead by overcoming Amelie Guzi JIA in four games. The Swiss player edged the opening two games before JIA kept Germany alive by taking the third 14-12. HU, however, closed out the fourth to give Switzerland the early advantage.
Anna WALTER levelled the tie with a four-game victory over Ilvi ULRICH. After losing the opening game, WALTER responded confidently to win the next three.
Germany then took control in the doubles, where JIA and WALTER proved too strong for HU and ULRICH, recording a convincing straight-games victory.
WALTER returned to the table to seal Germany’s place in the final. Facing HU, she recovered after losing the opening game to win the next three 11-8, 11-5 and 11-9, completing Germany’s comeback and setting up a title clash with France.
Sweden – France 0-3
- Siri BENJEGARD – Albane ROCHUT 2-3 (11-2, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11)
- Nike LUNDQVIST – Eva LAM 0-3 (3-11, 4-11, 3-11)
- Siri BENJEGARD, Alicia ENBOM – lbane ROCHUT, Eva LAM 0-3 (3-11, 8-11, 5-11)
Switzerland – Germany 1-3
- Enya HU – Amelie Guzi JIA 3-1 (13-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-7)
- Ilvi ULRICH – Anna WALTER 1-3 (11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 9-11)
- Enya HU, Ilvi ULRICH – Amelie Guzi JIA, Anna WALTER 0-3 (4-11, 9-11, 8-11)
- Enya HU – Anna WALTER 1-3 (11-8, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11)